GOSICK – 04

How obviously suspicious does Avril Bradley act? About a 13/10 on the “I CAN SEE THE ENDING” scale. But then again, that’s what they want me to think isn’t it?

It’s eerie how seemingly unrelated events are implied to tie into each other. First Kujou is arrested for suspect of a motorcycle beheading, which, while solved, the new transfer student Avril Bradley throws doubt. But it doesn’t even end there, with another mystery of a noblewoman and her knight, whom she selfishly trapped inside when she knew she was near her death in order to “preserve their love.” It’s implied that Avril may have some connections with seemingly two random mysteries, but I have no idea where to even begin. Judging by the preview, she’s definitely got something up her sleeve.

So how was the episode itself? It’s more interesting than the first episode, but this wasn’t as fun as the previous two. Since it’s the setup of a new arc, it’s probably just boring by nature, but it’s not like nothing happened either. I did notice the oddness of the mysteries this time around, which makes the mysteries a little wacky, such as the soldier being dead for eight years yet is still standing by the door. It implies he actually died while mid-pound, which is possible, but it’s just weird.

The MC’s get the obligatory development, as Kujou’s Dark Reaper moniker gets more time to soak in, and it doesn’t seem like the show wants to reveal why they call him that just yet. Victorique is also called other names, delivering your usual “more depth than meets the eye” development. It would have been better if some of these character developments actually came as more of a shock, which would have gave it a little more zing. Instead it’s more of a “hmm, that’s interesting and definitely means something,” like how Grevil stubbornly persists in avoiding direct communication with Victorique. There’s also that “Gray Wolf” name that he spouted with such a hateful scowl. I think it’s similar in vein to the “Black Sheep” term, since Grevil responded to her saying “a woman’s feelings are deep and strong,” so it was probably a jab towards the affair Victorique’s own mother caused. Grevil may not be so carefree after all. My personal attachment to the series, the interactions between Victorique and Kujou, seemed to also have regressed this episode. She was much meaner to Kujou compared to when they were on Queen Berry, but it could be the suppressed jealousy talking, since all the attitude came after Kujou remarked about comparing her to the girl from his imagination. Damn it Kujou, now I only get munching on rice snacks.

Perhaps the most interesting thing here is why BONES is rushing through the source material so ridiculously fast. Given that it’s going to run for another season, maybe BONES plans on catching up, or giving the series a more farther adaptation rather than a faithful but slow one. For an anime only viewer like me, I guess it’s only natural that I’d enjoy the former. The biggest draw about GOSICK right now is just how developed the series can get after maybe episode ten, especially considering the speed BONES is going. If you take a look at the opening and see the villains that haven’t even shown up yet, such as the huge hint that Victorique’s going to be snatched away, I just can’t help but be excited for what’s to come. Anywho, next week looks crackin’, so here’s hoping it’ll get the ball rolling again.

Knights were to take their meals in silence, eat meat no more than three times per week, and not have physical contact of any kind with women, even members of their own family.
(source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar)

I like the two main characters, but the problem with the series is that the mysteries are so easy, that by being the only one who can solve them, Victoria is making the rest of the cast look like morons.

So the cop didn’t even notice there was blood on the end of the wire? Looking for someone with an injured hand is police work 101.

The series reminds me of Kujibiki. It also had good characters but suffered from a stupid plot.

gray wolf… why did I think that was refering to Kujou? Maybe I had a bad sub…
the new transfer student is sure suspicious… can’t wait for what happens next…
and Kujou, don’t you dare to die on anyone’s but our loli’s hand

Loving GOSICK as well.
Haven’t read the manga yet.
Victorique’s detective brother is an idiot and is getting on my nerves.
If I was Kujou, I would’ve asked permission from Victorique to give her brother a trashing after proving that I’m innocent.

truly the loving this and is the best anime this season for me along with Madoka, anyway, no case has been solved, i mean we get the system of the crime, but the motive and connections have not been revealed yet. ^^

Either the teacher or Victorique explained the “dark reaper who comes in the springtime” nickname actually: basically there’s an old legend about a traveler who comes in the spring being a reaper and, especially since he has black hair, the nickname got stuck with Kujo, at least that’s how I understand it. Of course, considering he keeps finding dead bodies that isn’t helping him convince his classmates otherwise….

I actually liked Victorique’s brother. His personality is really funny, except for this episode. I thought he was “friendlier” and less mean to Victorique unlike his family but after watching this episode, it seems that he’s got that bad side as well.

because it’s realistic and done by MERE SIMPLE PEOPLE. the difficulty of the crime is proportional to the one doing it rather than being WTF!? at the end because a genius crime is done by a MERE SIMPLE PERSON. ^^

so haven’t anyone noticed that the so called “culprit” behind the rider incident, Avril, and Millie Marl all have GOLDEN HAIR? as the title implied “The Golden Thread Destroys the Moment”
and with book Avril found w/c she knew that was there with the title translated as “The Golden Fairy of the High Tower,” the golden hair seems to connect all of them. and the death of Maxim have something more in it, with different rumors following his name as Grevil said.

They would better start explaining about Victoria’s past before I lose control of my emotions and proceed to murder, no torture that piece of shit of a detective. Damn, I am so pissed off with how that guy looks at Victoria and calls her a gray wolf in that tone.

I get the vibe that Grevil pities and envies her at the same time. If they did not show that animation of the flash of light on the motorcyclist’s neck and Grevil not showing the steel wire, it would have been harder. The theory of the unconscious thought process leaking into the conscious one is reasonable.

Yeah I’m not sure why they haven’t delved much into the story that Kujo is obviously being connected to. Though at least they are showing how isolated he is in that school. It’s already be tough going into a high class European school as probably the only Asian kid, but then he gets this dark shinigami title.

Should be interesting to keep following the ups and downs of the Victorique and Kujo relationship. Neither one really has many friends outside of the other and considering Victorique’s past it’s likely Kujo is the first friend she’s ever had.

You know, I’ve had two questions about a couple of the translations here since the beginning:

Why “Gosick”? Wouldn’t “Gothic” make more sense? The literal translation of the Katakana is “Goshikku”. There is no “si” or “thi” sound in Japanese… Is there a Kanji form of the title?

And Victorique’s name… The way Kujou pronounces it, I would have translated her name as “Victorica”, since I would normally expect an ending ‘k’ sound to use “ku”, and where the “u” sound of that would be whispered/omitted. He definitely uses a “ka” ending.

“The Grey Wolf that spoke human languages” was in the ghost story book the Kujo was reading in Ep1 (just before he found Victoria’s hair). What’s the connection between Victoria and this “ghost story”?

BTW I can only find scanlated “Gosick” up to chapter 3. Does anyone know of some site where I can read further? Thx.

Hiromu Arakawa requested to the staff back in Fullmetal Alchemist that he wants the anime to have a different ending to his manga that’s why FMA turned out to be an original series midway and the manga is also young at that time w/ Arakawa also helping the anime staff in the insight of the FMA world.

as for BONES doing LN adaptations, they’ve always stick with it and remain faithful to the source.

After the production staff was all secretive about who’s playing Avril, we find out that it’s another more established seiyuu, Toyoguchi Megumi. She played Winry in the original FMA. I love her roles, so it’s a great casting in my eyes.

Notice the similarity in the opening between the blond haired man taking Vitorica(henceforth :-/ ) away, and Claviel(Grevil)? If i had to make an educated guess as to the upcoming storyline, I’d hazard to say that the “villain” is Victorica’s father, ESPECIALLY given the the castle in the background when he carries her away.

Victorica would seem to be getting out and about in the world more then her family would like, and i expect them to remedy this in the quickest way possible, taking her out of the academy, and locking her back in the castle, thus the opening scene.

I expect a sort of coming of age thing for Kujo in that regard, Victoria gets taken, and he has to use everything he’s learned from her to get her back. Just the prospect alone sounds amazing to me, at least.

In the preview, is it just me, because Victorique remind me of Kuroneko for some reason from Oreimo? xD

As much as I’ve been loving the first three eps, I had to say this episode was slow and relatively uninteresting. It might just be that it’s just starting to flesh out a new arc, but this ep felt very rushed, two mysteries that are quickly solved just to provide some background info for Avril in the next episode. Also, I didn’t like Kujo’s interactions with Victorique this ep >.>

This anime is still one the top-contenders this season, I hope Avril’s arc is interesting and that Kujo and Victorique have some more nice scenes together ;)